NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas takes some sweetness with his satire

New Orleans Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas, who has been skewered in print and online, at protests and public meetings, knows he has a standing reservation in the hot seat. He also knows how to take a joke.

View full sizeBrendan McCarthy, The Times-PicayuneThe ceramic dish is a one-of-a-kind replica of a Mardi Gras float that lampoons NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas.

Exhibit A: On his desk, besides stacks of documents and paper clips, sits a one-of-a-kind replica of a Mardi Gras float that lampoons Serpas.

The ceramic dish, a gift from an admirer, is a clone of last year's Krewe of Chaos "Glazed and Confused" float that took aim at the chief, portraying him as a button-busting, bleary and bug-eyed leader. The dish, like the float, is festooned with doughnuts.

On a recent weekday, the gravy-boat-sized container was brimming with chocolates.

Exhibit B: Hanging in the corner of Serpas' office is a framed photo of his "Glazed and Confused" face. The close-up snapshot shows the white doughnuts that stood in for his eyeballs on the float. Serpas' crime-fighting colleague, Sheriff Newell Normand of Jefferson Parish, gave him the photo.

Exhibit C: Also framed behind glass is an illustration of the same float, an artistic rendering in classic Carnival fashion.

Serpas has yet to memorialize his latest Carnival float likeness.

View full sizeBrendan McCarthy, The Times-PicayuneOn the float, white doughnuts stood in for Ronal Serpas' eyes.

This year, Krewe d'Etat nailed the chief for the off-duty, paid-detail police scandal tied to the city's traffic cameras. That float featured Serpas in a headdress of dollar bills, with red-light cameras shining behind him. The float was lined with mock-ups of The Times-Picayune, with headlines alluding to the scandal.

The chief said recently that the criticism comes with the job.

"I thought it was great," he said of the lampooning. "That's what Mardi Gras is about. It's satire."